October Rain
by Ella Not Lotte
Summary: Draco Malfoy hates the month of October, especially when it rains. However, an unusual event may change his mind about the month forever... Written for the DG Forum's October Challenge. UPDATED to contain Ginny's POV.
1. Draco

_**This is for the October challenge on the lovely Rowangreenleaf's DG forum. Thanks to Farielle for looking over it quickly, and hope you enjoy!**_

_**I disclaim**_

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Draco Malfoy absolutely, positively _despised_ the month of October. He grudgingly admitted that the leaves could be considered pretty, but the pouring rain definitely wasn't. And so Draco Malfoy was definitely irked at being outside in said rain. Stupid Sprout. It was all her fault.

He swore colorfully, cursing himself for forgetting his wand in his dormitory, and ran at top speed towards the school, his head down and eyes shut tightly against the storm. Obviously, he wasn't going to run into anyone out here. What kind of psychopath would-

His thought was abruptly cut off as he ran into someone.

"I'm so sorry!" exclaimed a very feminine voice. A hand shot out to help him up, and he brushed it away irritatedly. "I didn't think anyone was out here, I wasn't looking where I was going. Gods, you're wet. Here..." A warmth encased Draco as the girl extended her drying charm to encompass him. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Detention." The girl nodded solemnly, and as lightning flashed across the sky, he suddenly got a good look at her face. Well, her hair, actually. "Weasley?"

"Ginny, actually. I don't like being called- Oh. It's _you._" She had lit her wand midway through the sentence.

"I should have guessed it was you. Who else would be insane enough to go outside in _this?_" Draco smirked at her.

"You wouldn't understand even if I wanted to tell you," Ginny sniffed haughtily, and started off in the direction she had been going before running into him. Draco started after her. It was one thing for her to be insane, but to imply that _he_, a Malfoy, was unable to comprehend what was going on in her empty little blood traitor head was another entirely. Probably she was going to make some pagan sacrifice as a last-ditch attempt to make the Pothead like her.

"What makes you think I can't understand, Weasley?" He scowled at her, and she returned it with a glare to rival Snape's most frightening.

"Oh, you _could_ understand Malfoy, I'm sure of it, but you won't." She'd turned away from him again, and was refusing to look at her. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and spun her around.

"Try me."

"The rain… it's so powerful. It's uncontrollable, and it's unstoppable, and unpredictable. It can turn huge boulders into pebbles and wipe out entire towns in great deluges." She laughed. "The reason I love it so much is probably the reason that you hate it. Because it's so uncontrollable. You always need to be in charge, don't you, Malfoy?" She took a step towards him, energy radiating from her, and Draco resisted the urge to step back. No, that would be construed as weakness. "You can't ever let go and relish in the presence of a force far more powerful than you. It's why you're going to make a lousy Death Eater. You're too neurotic to ever follow anyone, much less blindly." He made an indignant sound. He was a Malfoy, he was not _neurotic. _She laughed.

"See what I mean? You can't even let that go."

"You're wrong, Weasley." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't like the rain because it makes me soaking wet, and I don't relish in the feeling of physical discomfort."

"Really? So you're enjoying the rain right now?"

"Of course not, I-"

"Hah! You're dry right now! So I _am _right!"

Draco glared at her, and she laughed delightedly.

"You need to let go, Malfoy. Just _feel_ something for once, instead of trying to _own_ it. Like…" She hesitated for a moment, before boldly flinging her arms around him and kissing him.

It wasn't Draco's first kiss, and it wasn't going to be his last. But Ginny Weasley didn't taste like the other girls, or smell like them. She tasted like cinnamon and mulled cider, smelled of smoke and the pouring rain- everything about the fall that Draco disliked was combined in this petite redhead, a girl he had scorned and belittled all his life, and yet he found himself enjoying it immensely. She didn't act like the other girls either. They had all stood and submitted to him, but she fought for dominance, tugging on his hair, biting his lip viciously. He tasted blood.

"Fuck!" He pulled away from her, and she giggled.

"What's wrong, Malfoy? Can't take a little bitty love bite?" She grinned foolishly, and Draco had to stop himself from thinking the word 'endearing'. Instead he scowled at her and turned on his heel, stalking away and back towards the castle, where he wouldn't have to deal with Ginny Weasley and her exceptional kisses.

"Same time tomorrow night, Malfoy!" she called from behind him.

Draco smirked to himself. Perhaps October wasn't so bad after all.

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_**You really **_**really **_**want to review right now. I can see it in your eyes. So go ahead! Even if it's just to tell me I'm a horrible writer, or you don't get how this fulfills the challenge.**_

_**Prompt: October (fall or spring)  
Challenge: Find the beauty or the ugliness in the season.  
Pairing: Any, as long as your fic features HP character(s).  
Word Count: 800 words (limit).**_


	2. Ginny

**Hullo, my dearies! I know that I've listed this as complete, but inspiration struck at half past 11, and I decided to write a followup. I'm too lazy to come up with a decent title, so I'm just going to add this onto the end of October Rain and that's that.**

**It's unbeta'd, so it's probably got a couple of errors or two. I'm too lazy to check right now. Perhaps if there's an excessive amount I'll go back and fix them.**

**Happy reading!**

**I disclaim.**

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Ginny Weasley _loved _the rain. She loved the way it looked, the way it felt, even the way it smelled. She loved how it was never quite the same- sometimes it was warm and sometimes cold, sometimes it was so gentle you could hardly feel it and sometimes so harsh it nearly hurt. Rain was never predictable, and that thrilled her.

And it was this love of rain that brought her outside after hours to sit and watch the pouring rain.

She momentarily dropped her drying charm, and turned her face up towards the rain, reveling in the feeling of the drops on her skin. Tonight it was falling in big, heavy drops that were cold as ice as lightning and thunder lit the sky and made the night roar.

Another reason she liked rain so much, she thought, was that it allowed her to think clearly and forget all the idiotic things she usually worried about. She could forget how the girls in her dorm were being particularly catty, and that she was about to fail Transfiguration. Most importantly, she could forget about the utter stupidity of the bet she had made with Luna earlier that week.

-x-x-x-

"_I'm broke!" She moaned as she dropped her book bog on the floor with a loud bang. Luna didn't even look up from the book she was reading as Ginny dropped into her favorite seat in the library and continued her rant. "I have no money, and I have to buy Christmas presents for my brothers."_

"_How much do you need?" asked Luna as she scribbled something in the margin of her notes. "I have plenty of money."_

"_No! I don't want you paying for me," huffed Ginny._

"_Why not?" Luna said this distractedly, only half paying attention to the conversation she was having._

"_That would be __charity__." Ginny moaned, refusing to acknowledge the whine in her voice._

"_So?"_

"_I don't __need__ charity." Luna raised her eyebrows at her textbook. Ginny wasn't sure whether she was raising them at the textbook itself, or at the comment she'd just made._

"_Well, you have no money, so clearly you do need it."_

_Ginny glared at Luna, but the effect was lost as Luna continued to read _The Art of Antidotes_ unperturbed._

_After a moment an idea struck her_

"_I know! I'll _earn _your money!" Ginny cried, jumping up in jubilation and earning her a glare and a 'Shhh!' from Madame Pince._

"_How are you going to do that? Are you going to do my laundry for me or something?"_

"_No, of course not, that's what House Elves are for. I dunno… I'll… I'll win it in a bet!" Ginny grinned at her genius._

"_Okay," Luna replied, "I bet you twenty galleons that you can't…" Here she looked up from her book and scanned the room, eventually lighting on the corner table where a group of fifth-year Slytherins sat. "I bet you can't kiss Draco Malfoy within the next week."_

"_Lu-__na__! You weren't supposed to give me an impossible bet!" Ginny glared at her friend._

"_Well, you have to __earn__ the money, don't you? And you only __really__ earn it if you work hard. So it's only logical that I give you something that really hard to do. After all, twenty galleons is a lot of money."_

_Ginny pouted, but Luna was already back to her textbook. Ginny knew from previous experience that this meant that the matter was closed._

_She glanced over at Malfoy. He wasn't half bad-looking now that he wasn't so pointy, and if the rumors were true (Ginny scoffed at the thought- rumors were rarely true), then Malfoy wasn't half bad at kissing either._

_And she really needed the money, too…_

"_Fine," she said finally. "I'll take it."_

-x-x-x-

Five days later, Ginny had come to regret ever having accepted the bet. She didn't lack the guts to snog Malfoy, but she was never quite able to catch him alone. She wasn't a coward, but she wasn't stupid, and she knew that snogging Malfoy in front of his idiotic cronies was only going to get her publicly humiliated. And also possibly murdered by Pansy Parkinson. If she managed to corner Malfoy alone, on the other hand, he'd probably be less likely to tell everyone. After all, he'd have no one to prove it and it would just seem like a childish lie, and Malfoy would be the one that was humiliated. She might not seem it, but Ginny was more Slytherin than she let on.

_How to get him alone… _she wondered, before stopping herself. _Damn! I didn't want to think about this. I suppose it's too late now…_

Ginny stood up dejectedly, heading in the direction of the Lake, towards the footpath that connected the Greenhouses to the castle. Now that the serene atmosphere was ruined, there was no point staying out in the rain and risking detention.

That, of course, was the moment when Fate decided to smile upon Ginny Weasley, and she stumbled as something wet and person-shaped ran straight into her. Ginny, who had grown up around people who were both larger than her and prone to tackling her unexpectedly, remained upright as whoever it was that had run into her fell, hitting the ground with a wet squelching noise.

Ginny gasped. "I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, sticking a hand out to help whoever she'd tripped back to their feet. "I didn't think anyone was out here, I wasn't looking where I was going. Gods, you're wet. Here..." She extended her drying charm, feeling immensely guilty. "What are you doing out here anyway?" As far as she knew, she had a monopoly on having an unhealthy obsession with the rain.

"Detention," a distinctly male voice responded. She nodded in understanding, looking out towards the grounds. Detention was something that she knew quite a bit about, considering that she liked to sneak about after hours. A streak of lightning lit the sky, and the boy next to her half-sneered, "_Weasley_?"

"Ginny, actually. I don't like being called- Oh. It's _you._" Her normal voice automatically turned into a sneer as she lit her wand and saw exactly who it was she had run into.

"I should have guessed it was you. Who else would be insane enough to go outside in _this?_" Ginny couldn't help but take offense at this. Of course _Malfoy_ wouldn't understand why she was so drawn to rain. After all, he probably hated unpredictability.

"You wouldn't understand even if I wanted to tell you," she said, staring off towards the Lake. She could feel Draco's irritation coming off him in waves, and she repressed the urge to giggle. _He's practically _edible_ when he's angry,_ she thought before she could stop herself.

"What makes you think I can't understand, Weasley?" He was glaring now, and Ginny felt a shiver go down her spine. The good kind of shiver, surprisingly enough. _Maybe this bet isn't so horrible after all…_

"Oh, you _could_ understand Malfoy, I'm sure of it, but you won't." She turned away again, as if he wasn't important enough to hold her attention. She knew that would make him even angrier, but she couldn't help it. For a Slytherin, he was surprisingly easy to bait. Or perhaps she was just good at it. After all, she had years of practice on her brothers.

She almost regretted baiting him when he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around hard enough that it hurt. Almost. However, she was too busy with the thrilling jolt that coursed through her at his sudden and unexpected force.

_He's rather unpredictable, isn't he?_

"Try me."

"The rain… it's so powerful. It's uncontrollable, and it's unstoppable, and unpredictable. It can turn huge boulders into pebbles and wipe out entire towns in great deluges." She laughed. "The reason I love it so much is probably the reason that you hate it. Because it's so uncontrollable. You always need to be in charge, don't you, Malfoy?" She stepped towards him, eyes bright, and she could sense his discomfort at her sudden closeness. _Well, that's his fault. He's the one that started this whole physical contact thing_. "You can't ever let go and relish in the presence of a force far more powerful than you. It's why you're going to make a lousy Death Eater. You're too neurotic to ever follow anyone, much less blindly."

She didn't quite know what corner of her mind that last statement had come from, but judging by the indignant sound that emanated from Malfoy's throat, she was right. She laughed.

"See what I mean? You can't even let that go."

"You're wrong, Weasley." She raised an eyebrow at him, although she wasn't quite sure if he'd be able to see it in the dim light from her wand. "I don't like the rain because it makes me soaking wet, and I don't relish in the feeling of physical discomfort."

"Really? So you're enjoying the rain right now?"

"Of course not, I-" She cut him off, triumphant

"Hah! You're dry right now! So I _am _right!"

Draco glared at her, and she laughed delightedly.

_Oh, this is such fun!_

And then of course it hit her.

She was with Draco Malfoy. Alone. At night. And she needed to snog him in order to win a bet that was two days from ending.

_Well, here goes nothing._

"You need to let go, Malfoy. Just _feel_ something for once, instead of trying to _own_ it. Like…" She hesitated for a moment, before boldly flinging her arms around him and crushing her lips to his.

_Oh yeah. Twenty Galleons here I come, baby._

It took her a moment to fully realize it, but kissing Draco Malfoy was _good_. Far better than kissing Michael Corner, her sort-of-boyfriend. He tasted like coffee and smelled of cologne- not the cheap kind that Mike wore, but the real, expensive kind that smelled spicy and delicious. And he kissed with _tongue_. It was something that she had wanted Michael to try. Supposedly, though, he wasn't _ready_ to.

"_Merlin's balls, Mike, it's just a bit of __tongue__. It's not like I'm asking you to have __sex__ or anything." _But he'd been adamant. Coward.

Ginny decided that she definitely liked tongue. She liked the way that it was like a miniature battle in their mouths, a struggle for power that she was neither winning nor losing, but rather thoroughly enjoying. She tangled her hands in his hair, yanking on it a little more roughly than was perhaps necessary, and biting his lip until she tasted blood. She wasn't sure what the fact that she liked the coppery taste said about her.

"Fuck!" he said breathlessly, pulling away from her. She giggled as he unconsciously brought his hand to his lips.

"What's wrong Malfoy, can't take a little bitty love bite?" She knew she looked like an idiot, standing there grinning with her hair mussed and her lips slightly swollen, but she couldn't help it. He was almost endearing when he pretended he didn't like it. Well, almost.

He scowled darkly at her and spun on his heel towards the castle. Ginny, instead of following him, decided that she would go sit under her favorite tree and contemplate the rather marvelous kiss she'd just received.

As she watched him, an impulse stole over her. "Same time tomorrow night, Malfoy!" she called out towards his retreating back before she could stop herself.

She just knew that he was smirking, and the thought brought a smirk to her own lips.

There was a reason she liked the rain so much.

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**Ginny's a bit unhinged, isn't she? And of course, she conveniently has a reason to kiss Draco... and then enjoy it... Hmm...**

**Did you like it? Hate it? A little of both? Tell me in a review! You know you want to.**

**Cheers,**

**-Ella**


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